Propeller guard for outboard motors



May 24, 1949. H. A. SIDNEY I 2,470,374

PROPELLER GUARD FOR OUTBOARD MOTORS Filed June 15, 1946 ATTORNEYSPatented May 24, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PROPELLER GUARD FOROUTBOARD MOTORS 11 Claims. 1

My invention relates to improvements in propeller guards for outboardmotors.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a guard which willeffectively cut and deflect weeds from the path of the propeller withoutmaterially retarding the motion of the boat with which it is associated.

Numerous attempts have heretofore been made to provide an effectiveguard for outboard motors, but so far as I am aware, none of the guardsheretofore designed have been commercially successful because of theirresistance to the motion of the boat, even in clear water, and thegreatly increased resistance which they offer to the motion of the boatwhen in contact with weeds, and their tendency to be deflected by theweeds into contact with the propeller blades.

It is my object to overcome these objections and to provide acommercially successful guard for outboard motor propellers which willhave knife-like cutter members capable of moving through the water withminimum resistance and will not become entangled in weeds, but will movewith an effective shearing action against any obstacles in its path,whether comprising weeds or submerged tree branches, and in which theblades can have a minimum cross section and capability of instantadjustment to a raised position above the water line when the propelleris operating in water free of weeds.

In general, it is my object to provide a commercially successful weedguard applicable to all outboard motors without material impairment oftheir efficiency in propelling a boat, and without interference withsteering operations,

In the following description, reference is had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the lower portion ofthe shaft housing of an outboard motor and its propeller wheel, with myimproved guard applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the lower portion of the guard, with itshanger .bar shown in cross section, and a detached propeller wheelillustrated in its proper relation to the extremities of the weed guardfork arms.

Figure 4 is a detail cross section, drawn to line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view in side elevation, showing the guard in its elevatedinoperative position, with dotted lines indicating an intermediateretracted position.

Figure 6 is a sectional View drawn to line 6-6 of Figure 1.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughoutthe several Views.

A knife-like hanger i6 is pivotally connected at H to an oscillatorybracket l2 associated with a clamping collar I3 which embraces thevertical shaft housing It of an outboard motor, preferably above normalwater line, The hanger I0 is suspended in front of the housing 14 andhas a sharp front edge i5 and therefore is adapted to move through thewater with minimum resistance. Its lower end is forked to provide twodivergent blade-like downwardly, outwardly, and rearwardly curving armsor blades I! and it, which have, respectively, knife-like edges l9 and20 which face forwardly in their upper portions and laterally in theirlower portions. The curvature of these blades is such that their sharpedges will move upon the weeds with a sliding or shearing action and cutthem without materially retarding the motion of the boat. Also, incutting the weeds, they will at the same time deiiect the shearedportions laterally from the path of the propeller.

The rear margins of the hanger l0 and the fork arms I! and is arepreferably streamlined as indicated at El, and the rear end portions ofthe fork blades are preferably in a substantially horizontal position atabout the level of the axis of the propeller and sufliciently offsetlaterall to avoid danger of contact with the propeller wings 22. Thefree ends 23 of the blades I! and I8 are located only slightly to therear of the space in which the propeller wings rotate, whereby theslipstream will efiectively carry the weed fragments away. I have foundthat if these forked blades are extended several inches to the rearofthe propeller they interfere with this action of the slipstream and tendto induce eddies, which carry some of the fragments into contact withthe propeller Wings. A pair of resilient clips 25, located slightlyabove the cavitation plate 26, normally holds the hanger ID in itsworking position.

But when released from these clips, the entire guard may be quicklyadjusted to an inoperative position, either by unscrewing the thumb nut21 from the clamping bolt 28 and detaching the clamping collar l3, or byswinging the hanger H) to a raised inoperative position withoutdisturbing the clamping collar l3. The bracket 12 provides one means forso adjusting the hanger ID to a raised inoperative position.

It will be observed that the upper end portion of the hanger I0 isoffset at '29 and the bracket l2 has a correspondingly ofiset pivot stud3i which is socketed in the clamping collar and serves as an oscillatorypivot for the :bracket, whereby the hanger may be swung past the housingM to the full line position in which it is shown in Figure 5. In eitherthe raised position, or in the normal operative position, it may belocked by a removable pin 32.

Whenthe propeller is to operate in clear water, the pin 32 may beremoved to allow the bracket 12 to be oscillated on the collar 13. Thehanger Ill may then be swung backwardly on its pivotal connection I i tothe position in which it is indicated by dotted lines in Figure 5,whereupon it may be swung laterally and upwardly to the position inwhich it is indicated in full lines in Figure 5. The hanger if! thenrests on a stop 35 which holds it in said raised position. The bracketIE will have been rotated 180, and the stud or stem 3i may then be againlocked'to the bracket I3 by reinserting the locking pin 32.

The hanger blade I and its knife-like fork arms El and iii arerelatively wide in proportion to their thickness. This not only enablesthem to cut through weeds and water freely, but their relative width ascompared with their thickness prevents them from being bent or deflectedin the direction of the propeller.

I claim:

1. A weed guard for an outboard motor having a propeller and an upwardlyextending housing member for a propeller driving shaft, comprising thecombination with said housing member, of a hanger connected therewithnormally in a guarding position in front of the housing, and providedwith fork arms diverging from the end of the hanger distant from saidpivotal connection laterally, downwardly and rearwardly on oppositesides of the propeller, said fork arms having sharp weed cutting edges.

2. A weed guard as set forth in claim 1, in

which the hanger comprises a blade with a sharp front cutting edge.

3. A weed guard as set forth in claim 1, in which means are providedwhereby the guard may be quickly adjusted to an inoperative positionwhen the propeller is operating in water free of weeds.

4. A weed guard as set forth in claim 1, in which means are provided foradjusting the hanger into and out of its normal guarding position to araised inoperative position.

5. A propeller guard for an outboard motor, comprising the combinationwith the shaft housing of an outboard motor of a hanger having its upperend portion pivotally supported in front of said shaft housing, saidhanger having a sharp weed-cutting front edge, and depending bladelikefork arms extending downwardly, laterally and rearwardly fromthe lowerend of the hanger and provided with sharp weed-cuttin edges at theirfront and laterally facing margins.

6. A propeller guard for an outboard motor, comprising the combinationwith the shaft housing of an outboard motor of a hanger having its upperend portion pivotally supported in front of said shaft housing, saidhanger having a sharp.

weed-cutting front edge, and depending bladed fork arms extendingdownwardly, laterally and rearwardly from the lower end of the hangerand provided with cutting edges at their front and laterally facingmargins, the free extremities of said fork arms being located at therespective sides of the path of the propeller and slightly to the rearof the space in which the propeller revolves.

7. A weed guard for an outboard motor, comprising a hanger memberprovided with means for supporting it in front of the propeller shafthousing of an outboard motor, and divergent blades connected with saidhanger and extending from the lower end thereof downwardly, laterallyand rearwardly in positions for guarding the path of a propellerassociated with the housing in front of which the hanger is supported,said blades having forwardly directed cutting edges.

8. A weed guard for an outboard motor, comprising the combination of aclamping collar adapted to embrace the vertical shaft housing of anoutboard motor, of a bladed hanger having its upper end connected withsaid collar and its lower end forked and extending in the form ofdownwardly and laterally divergent and rearwardly curving fork armsprovided with cutting edges for contact with weeds in the path alongwhich the motor advances.

9. In a combination as set forth in claim 8, an oscillatory bracketmounted on said collar, a pivotal connection between said bracket andhanger, and means for locking the bracket with the hanger either inworking position or in a raised inoperative position.

10. A weed guard for an outboard motor com prisin the combination withan outboard motor housing member, of a hanger pivotally connected withsaid housing member and adjustable thereon to either a raisedinoperative position or a depending guarding position, the end of saidhanger distant from said pivotal connection having divergent bladed forkarms adapted, when the hanger is in guarding position, to extenddownwardly, outwardly and rearwardly on opposite sides of a propellerwheel associated with said outboard motor, said arms having weed cuttingedges substantially as described.

11. A weed guard for an outboard motor having a housing and a propellersupported thereby, comprising the combination with a mounting bracketfor connection with said housing, of a weed guard connected with thebracket for support in a propeller guarding position and comprising apair of blades connected together in substantial parallelism at theirupper ends and divergent downwardly and rearwardly before the propeller,the divergent lower ends of the blades bein provided with sharp weedcutting edges.

HARRY A. SIDNEY.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Arado Aug. 15, 1944Number

